Clothes-pin.



' Witnesses A. G. FRENCH.

CLOTHES PIN.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 17, 1909.

942,725, Patented Dec. 7, 1909.-

, a attoznuga ALFONSO C. FRENCH, OF DAINGERFIELD, TEXAS.

CLOTHES-PIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 7, 1%09.

Application filed July 17, 1909. Serial No. 508,137.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALroN-so CLAUDE FRENCH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Daingerfield, in the county of Morris and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Clothes-Pin, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in clothes pins of the type shown by my previous patent No. 775,561 of Nov. 22, 1904:, and has for its object the provision of a means designed to strengthen the clothes clamp shown in that patent, and also to provide a stop to limit the movement of the extending arms, whereby the resiliency of the latter will not be impaired and the life of the entire device will be greatly lengthened.

In the patent above referred to, the device was placed upon the clothes line by bringing the central coils to a point immediately below the line, and then raising the device bodily until the line passed between the contiguous turns of the central coil; after which the arms were raised above the line and then pressed downwardly, the clothes line entering the space between the clamps. In order to remove the device, this operation was reversed. In the present construction, the manner of application is similar to that just described with the exception that at the time the line is forced between the coils, it is also forced into the stops, (to be later described) and since the addition of this feature will render it more difficult to raise the clamps above the line in order to detach the device, accidental displacement and loss of the latter will be prevented, and the device as a whole will become more of a permanent part of the line than heretofore.

WVith these and other object-s in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear, the present invention consists in certain novel details of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of the device. may be made, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification the figure is a perspective of the device in use.

As in my former patent already referred to, the present device consists of a central coil having two oppositely extending arms disposed on the opposite sides of the coil. The arms terminate in spring clamps disposed transverse to the axis of the coil, and the metal at the terminals of the clamps instead of being bent around the upper side of the clamps is extended parallel to the arms terminating adjacent the coil where it is bent downwardly and upwardly so as to form a loop to engage the line. The wire of. which the device is made is preferably resilient and it may be formed by curving the central portion of the wire into a coil 1. The unwound end portions of the wire extend downward at opposite ends of the coil and upon opposite sides of the same. By now curving each end portion coincident to the coil 1 and extending such curve to the opposite end of the coil and adjacent the lower side of the same, as shown at 2 and 3, a clamp is formed between the coils of which the clothes line is secured. The ends of the wire at the terminals of the curved portions last described are now bent laterally in opposite directions to the opposite sides of the coil and thence upwardly coincident with the curve of the coil to its upper side, thus forming loops 4L and 5. side of the coil the ends of the wire extend outward in opposite directions in a horizontal plane transverse the plane of the coils axis, whereby resilient arms (3 and 7 are formed. The length of each arm is substantially equal to twice the diameter of the central coil, and at their terminals are bent downward as a straight segment 8 nearly to the plane of the central coils lower side, and thence curved outward and upward to the lower side of the arms and inner side of the upper end of the straight segment 8, as shown at 9, and then the curve is continued outward and downward nearly to the plane of the coils lower side, as shown at 10, then again upward as a straight segment 11 to a plane parallel to the arms. Each end portion is then bent parallel to the arms 6 and 7 and extended inwardly to a point adjacent the central coil, as shown at 11, where a stop is formed by bending the wire downwardly and outwardly to a point slightly below the plane of the coils lower side, as shown at 12, after which it is bent upwardly and inwardly, as shown at 13, and forming an up- From the upper wardly convergent opening between the sides of the stop, the wire terminating at the lower side of the arms 6 and 7.

In attaching this device to a clothes line, either the method already described or the following may be employed. One terminal of the line may be inserted through either of the stops, then through the loops L or 5, after which it is forced between the coils, then through the opening between the opposite stops when the parts will occupy the positions shown in the figure. l/Vhen the clothes clamps, formed by the depending curvatures at the outer ends of the arms 6 and 7, are lifted, a garment may be fastened to the line by forcing either member downward so as to straddle the line when the straight segments 8 and 11 will firmly bind against the opposite sides of the latter and garment, and as the curved portions 9 and 10 yieldingly resist the separation of the straight segments, these ends form spring clamps. It will also be observed when the clamps are lifted for the purpose just described, the lower ends of the stops will limit the upward movement of the arms 6 and 7, whereby the danger of straining the latter will be considerably reduced.

I claim 1. A clothes pin comprising a central coil having oppositely extending spring arms provided at their outer terminals with depending spring clamps, and means interposed between the opposite sides of the coil and spring clamps, serving when brought in engagement with a clothes line to limit the upward movement of the arms.

2. A clothes pin comprising a central coil having oppositely extending spring arms provided at their outer terminals with depending spring clamps, and a depending stop interposed between the coil and each spring clamp having its lower end extending below the horizontal plane of the said central coil to limit the upward movement of the arm.

3. A clothes pin comprising a central coil 7 having oppositely extending spring arms provided at their outer terminals with de pending spring clamps disposed parallel to the axis of the coil, and a depending stop interposed between the coil and each spring clamp having its axis transverse to the axis of the coil to limit the upward'movement of the arm.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ALFONSO C. FRENCH.

WVitnesses IRA P. FORSY'lI-I, J. I-L'FRENCH. 

